The document outlines a study that aims to examine how the environment where one grows up influences their views on the criminal justice system. It conceptualizes the independent variable as the region and type of community one lives in, operationalized as state of residence and zip code, respectively. The dependent variable is defined as support for the death penalty, with dimensions of civic participation and opinions, operationalized as individual voting records and responses on a Likert scale. The broad question is how the environment impacts views on the death penalty. Limitations of the variables are also noted for consideration.

1. Start with a
broad question
Does where you grow up
influence your views
of the criminal justice system?

2. Conceptualizing the
Independent variable
"where you grow up" =
environment

3. Dimension of environment:
Region of U.S.
Attributes:
West Coast, Northeast, South,
Southeast, Midwest

4. Dimension of environment:
Type of community
Attributes:
Rural, Suburban, Urban

5. Operationalizing
Indicators for region:
State of residence, assigned to
regions (see attributes)
Indicators of community type:
zip code, assigned to type (see
attributes)

6. Conceptualizing the
Dependent variable
"views of criminal justice system" =
support for death penalty

7. Dimension of support:
civic participation
Attributes:
Voting in favor or against

8. Dimension of support:
opinions
Attributes:
Always support, in some cases,
in rare cases, always against

9. Operationalizing
Indicators for civic participation:
Individual's voting record on
proposition banning death penalty
Indicators of opinions:
Ordinal scale 0 to 4
(0=always opposed,
4=always in favor)

10. Now you are ready to re-state
your broad question
How does the environment in which
an individual lives
impact views on the death penalty?

11. What are some problems
or limits of my variables?